Dilip twice visited Pakistan on secret missions: Kasuri

Hitting back, Kulkarni said that he was “certainly an agent, not a Pakistani agent, but an agent of peace between India and Pakistan, and peace in South Asia”. “The issue is that there has to be a recognition that terrorism can not be an instrument of statecraft and you can not say it was only Gurudaspur attack, why are you overreacting or an attack on BSF, why are you overreacting”. The Pakistani politician, who served as foreign minister from 2002 to 2007, was talking to reporters after visiting Mani Bhavan, which was the nerve centre of Gandhiji’s activities in Mumbai (then Bombay) from 1917 to 1934. “It is not asking for too much”, they said.

Pervaz Rashid said Pakistan always welcomes the Indian players, poets and actors on its land with open heart.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid says Pakistan has taken notice of the treatment meted out to former Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri in India. Last August when the NSA talks were aborted, India had carefully selected August 23 for talks, making sure that Swaraj was in Egypt, to abort any chance of interaction between two foreign ministers.

Sources said though the Ufa statement said that the NSA-level talks will be held in New Delhi, India did not get stuck on the venue.

Islamabad responded with a counter-proposal: That since the Foreign Ministers will also be in New York around the same time, they should also meet on the sidelines of the UNGA. The problem is that when another party starts conditioning it, that it will only talk if they are allowed to meet Hurriyat…. “Sena’s agitation was inspired by patriotism”, said Raut, adding that the very police force that saw people such as Tukaram Omble being martyred in the 26/11 terror attacks launched by Pakistani terrorists was deployed to protect Pakistan (Kasuri).

It is expected that Prime Minister Sharif, when he goes to the United States of America for a meeting with President Barack Obama is also likely to raise this issue of the stalled India-Pakistan dialogue. “If the Sena has committed the crime of rashtrabhakti (patriotism), we will keep committing the crime again”, he said.

The sources also asserted that it was also about whether Pakistan accepts or not that practising terrorism is an obstacle to better India-Pakistan relationship.